Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1887-12-01
San Francisco E.cttcr.

No city in the Union can offer such advan-
! tagcs Ms Frisco to those who would ike a
peep at the odd ways and insd" life o. the
! Chinese. To every halfw curious tour
ist China. town holds secrets Of life 90 differ
ent from ours that anticipation 20 learn
some Of them takes such hold on one that
two days stay IN the city without visiting
their haunts Is positive misery. I,u can not
meet a tours, who expects TO visit this city,
or one who bag Ec,n here, but that he Is load
cd with new or second hand tales Of Chinese
life
We visited rome places in Victoria Il. G.,
Of which We spoke in our last letter bat that
is mild dose, when compared to days spent
in the Chinese quarter, where one can sec
everything just as 1t Is in China. We visit
cd nearly every place of interest, before Sc
lecting q gui e, whom one mast have to
show those places not open to Strangers
such as the Theatre, joss houses, $ ere. or
ters, and other like places.
Chinatown is four squares wide by eight
deep and is eltuated almost in the heat Of
the city. $4,000 people inhahit this area
now and about As to 80 thousand during
the winter
SELECTING a GUIDE.
You wantee see China town day? lie
guide, Ne show You Chinatown The
speaker was shrcwd looking cooiie who
stood at the corner of Dupont and Clay SITS.
With his English he used consldcrahl pan
tomime and cigarette smoke, while he chew.
ed our verbs and adjcctives all out Of shape
He spoke though with more than ordinary
huency This fellow evidently tried his
hand at many callings while in America,
and like his more enlightened prototype was
willing and ready to try his hand at any pro
fesson, from that Of Kidnapping Of women
to briblng jurors, providing the lovely Amer.
lean dollar crossed his palm. No where
else could one see such type of Chinese
so much Americanzed, yet SO typically fol
lower Of Confucius; SO specifically bland,
vet 80 full Of latent impudence; 80 outwardly
llICth, Wv on al bith" anu h'o-
perado. This guide was Enthusiastically an
importation from Hong Kong. He had all
the marks Of Oriental nativity IN his face,
and his color and department bespoke the
Asiatic foreigner trained under despotic
government, and grown bold and aggressive
in the free republic. He looked what in
common parlance is called a tough case" 30
we concluded to drop him.
Several days before, while on daylight
trip We met guide who gave us his card,
and we went to look him up. Joe Ling is
an American citizen, and the proprietor of
the finest bazaar IN Chinatown. He spent
81 years in Ohio, 0 in Frisco, and is SO years
old. He wears a mustache a IL America
for which he has receiver from his country
men the nickname Of Holy Joe. A party Of
FIVE, having each deposited with him eight
bittee" as retainer starred off after the
lead Joe, who was making bee line for
what looked like the mouth Of a tunnel
We finally found oursclt in an open court
of hugh frame bullling-a lodging house
The stories are very low, and the rooms very
small. This court at the far end opened in
to what was intended for a vcntiator, bat
was almost closed by IA myriad Of lines and
wires on which having every conceivable ar
ticle of apparel known to the wardrobe Of a
male Chlnaman. Two to four men live in
each room in which is their fixtures, four
hunks their personal effects, themselves, and
their inscparahlc dominocs. The exact size
ofthebulding has escaped met is not large
yet is home for 1900 men. Close to this
hole, we went down under the sidewalks in